By Marc Tobias
mtobias@dailystandard.com COLDWATER — The first pitch of Coldwater’s game against Wapakoneta proved to be just a sneak preview of what was in store for the Cavaliers.
Brandon Freytag took Craig Hoyng’s initial offering over the left centerfield wall for a home run and Freytag went on to have a monster day for the Redskins as they knocked off Coldwater 11-2.
Freytag finished 4-for-5 with three runs scored and five RBI in addition to pitching the first three innings of the ball game for the ’Skins.
The Cavaliers actually took a brief lead in the bottom half of the first inning when a Dusty Ahrens double plated Chad Geier to tie the game at 1-1, and then it was Trent Gerlach singling home Ahrens for a 2-1 Cavs lead.
Unfortunately for Coldwater, it only got three hits the rest of the game after Gerlach’s single while Wapakoneta racked up 15 hits for the game.
After grabbing a 4-2 lead in the fourth inning the Redskins broke things wide open during a seven-run fifth inning.
Alex Fuerst led off with a triple and was then doubled home by Josh Varno. Two Batters later it was Brian Garman clearing the bases with a three-run homer.
The next two Redskins hit singles to make it eight consecutive hits for Wapakoneta dating back to the end of the fourth inning when Shawn Placie was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double.
Freytag then singled home two runs for a 10-2 lead, and he would later score on a Coldwater error.
“It was a nice inning, we’ve had our ups and downs this year offensively, but that fifth inning we came through we put all seven hits or so in the gaps and had some nice clutch hits,” said Wapakoneta coach Jason Brandt. “We attacked the baseball and that’s what we need to continue to do.”
Freytag came up to the plate in the seventh needing a triple for the cycle, but he ended a great night with a grounder to short.
“On the hill he kept us in the game by giving us three good innings and he battled,” Brandt said of Freytag. “Offensively we put him in the lead off spot tonight for the first time and he was attacking the baseball, that was the Freytag of old right there.”
“It’s definitely new for me, but I was definitely comfortable,” Freytag said of batting lead off. “I hit real well today but so did the rest of the team.”
Hoyng picked up the loss for Coldwater as he went 3 2/3 innings allowing three runs on five hits.
Coldwater’s bullpen finished by allowing eight runs on 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings of work.
“It was tough one. They’re a good team and they hit the ball really well,” said Coldwater coach Brian Harlamert. “The biggest thing I told the guys if we get a hit in the third or fourth to give us a lead it might have changed things, but he got out of the inning both times and we weren’t able to put anything together.”
Picking up the win for Wapakoneta was Varno as he pitched the final four innings. Varno struck out four while allowing just one hit and no runs. He also had a nice day at the plate where he went 3-for-5 with a run scored and one RBI.
Coldwater had two players get mulit-hit games, as Ahrens went 2-for-3 with a run scored and one RBI. Gerlach meanwhile finished 2-for-3 as well with one RBI.
The loss was the first for Coldwater this season who now stands at 7-1.
“It’s not easy to win them all, even though that’s your goal but sometimes you loss to a good team, which this is,” Harlamert said. “We’ll build off of it and play a good game on Saturday.”
Wapakoneta improves to 4-2 on the season.
The Cavaliers are back in action on Saturday when they host Bath at noon in a rematch of last summers ACME state game in which Bath eliminated the Cavaliers on a walk-off home run.
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